The main reason I don't push myself as a tuner is that (apart from not needing the money) it's a task I can only do with the right people who can actually deal with the issues as they arise.Many just don't know how things work so would rather just point the finger than figure out it was there own fault all along that things turned to ****.

My point is now how the engine failed but more in the fact that starting half assed leads to half assed results. Something many of us learned the hard way so these new guys should take notes instead of planning poorly and being stubborn.

And no boosted 8 runs 100%. But yes, tuning these is a bitch in person so I can't even imagine remotely on a setup the owner doesn't have a clue about. There are just so many variables. We all have our pride and all boosted RX-8's owners I know make excuses for their cars rather than just admitting that boosting a Renesis is largely a bad idea.

I still love the car and I am happy that I got it to where it is, but I'm nuts, I will always tell these young/new guys to stay away from this platform if they want any sense of reliability and a quick car at the same time.

Okay first, YES my engine failed from a coolant seal. No it is not an engine I built. It was a motor from a wreck with high enough compression to use as a test motor so to speak.

That is not how I originally planned my build going. However I did learn quite a bit on that motor and can now correct for prior mistakes.
Other than my leaking coolant seal and leaking exhaust manifold. We made significant progress and on several pulls I made quite a bit of power. Sadly that motor couldn't handle it.

9k, no one here doubts your knowledge. It's your approach that gets individuals feathers ruffled. Also, not everyone has the ability to throw endless amounts of money at a car yet still love the platform.
You would probably make more friends if you stopped pounding on anyone who is less fortunate than yourself. I'm not saying you don't work for your money or haven't earned where your at. Simply that not everyone has had that time, opportunity or hell maybe even drive to get there yet. But, again, they love the same platform.
One could argue "it costs more in the long run". But people work with what they have at the time.
Chris, good work so far. Like myself, you'll get there.

Brettus is an amazing tuner. He's great to work with and bounce ideas off of. Couldn't say enough good things. And if course you will be tuning this next one.

Okay first, YES my engine failed from a coolant seal. No it is not an engine I built. It was a motor from a wreck with high enough compression to use as a test motor so to speak.

That is not how I originally planned my build going. However I did learn quite a bit on that motor and can now correct for prior mistakes.
Other than my leaking coolant seal and leaking exhaust manifold. We made significant progress and on several pulls I made quite a bit of power. Sadly that motor couldn't handle it.

Travis

Sorry to hear that, Travis. I knew you were down for rebuild at the same time I started my project, but I did not know the specifics. Hopefully you get back behind the wheel soon. Fingers crossed that Steve worked out the intake port timing problem. He called me and said its ready to go, I pick it up from him this evening.

Got home in one rotary powered piece. Picked it up a little after five pm. Drove it around the neighborhood, scared my wife using just the wastegate spring (6lbs). There was still an old CEL from the air pump deletion, so Steve was kind enough to reflash the car one more time. While I was there i also heard a spectacular FB (BRAAAAP!) and saw a super clean FD getting ready for a tuning session.

The dyno chart is posted below. Had some boost drop issues, it could not maintain 13 psi to redline. Hopefully a different boost controller can help us out. Looking at the fancy Greddy with the OLED screen. Also getting a little more smoke on start up than I would like, and some strange oil pressure readings. My Prosport gauge is off the scale (150+ psi) at 5k rpm. Ordered a new sensor tonight. Will test with mechanical pressure gauge this weekend to confirm.

I am thrilled to have the car back, it's almost beyond words. I plan to drive it as much as possible this weekend just to get used to it. Unfortunately a doubleheader on Saturday will make that a little tough. Steve was very excited about me coming back and trying again. He said it was rock solid at 13 psi, so maybe there is some more power yet to be found!

Final numbers are 282hp and 200 ft lbs torque. Max boost was 12.8 psi at 5500rpm.

Congratulations Chris! I'm glad to see your first trip to the dyno was successful and yielded good solid results!

Looks like you made your peak power number at about 9.5 psi so there is without a doubt more in it for sure! A different boost controller with RPM offset will indeed help and with a couple other tweaks, there's even more.

Steve is the man. You better chill with that 13psi unless you wanna pay for another rebuild soon. And if you really do have excessive oil pressure then that is the reason for your smoke.

I agree, I have no plans to leave the boost controller set at 13psi all the time. I see that as a special occasion empty road on a Saturday afternoon kind of thing. The oil pressure seems to be reading inconsistent, it read normal today coming in to work. I need to get the ashtray pod off and check the wires, the gauge has been flaky. It doesnt turn on when the other ones do, despite having a parallel connection for power and backlight.

I agree, I have no plans to leave the boost controller set at 13psi all the time. I see that as a special occasion empty road on a Saturday afternoon kind of thing. The oil pressure seems to be reading inconsistent, it read normal today coming in to work. I need to get the ashtray pod off and check the wires, the gauge has been flaky. It doesnt turn on when the other ones do, despite having a parallel connection for power and backlight.

I've had a lot of issues with the pressure transducers on a lot of applications. Both oil and fuel seem to take turns flaking out. When there is a failsafe setup and the sensor fails it makes for an interesting few minutes getting off and going back to the pits wondering if it's a false positive or if something really screwed up 😎

I have been working 80 hour weeks for the past month and during that time the battery died. It was in a parking garage at work, so I just kind of left it. I got a new Optima from the auto parts store and swapped it out this afternoon. Car fired right up and I was happy to have it back.

Took it for a spin up and down the freeway to make sure everything was good, then had to get it cleaned up. A month in the garage had not been kind, lots of dust and grime.

I purchased a Seibon vented hood and had it painted to match. Its been ready for several weeks, luckily the body shop was very understanding. Hoping to also get the replica MS wing on and replace the Mazda badge with a newer one.

Few things of note. The turbo was converted to low mount by RX8Performance. All new powder coated charge tubing took care of that. Secondly it’s no longer an AT. After the first motor crapped out we pulled it and rebuilt it as a six port. Bought a JDM five speed transmission and did that conversion too. Runs about 10 psi now, still have some weird boost issues above that.

Second job starts back up this Saturday night so not sure how much I’ll be able to fiddle with the car. I can carpool with my wife to the day job but i have to take a train coming home from the evening gig, so I’m a little hesitant to start fiddling with the car again.